Santa Susana Field Lab activists divided over how clean Rocketdyne site should be

After two decades of fighting to clean up the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site, longtime activists say their efforts are being subverted by a Boeing-backed effort to recruit new community voices.

The division between old-timers and so-called new voices centers over exactly how much cleanup work is needed at the contaminated former rocket testing site in the Simi Hills.

The veteran activists are pushing for a cleanup to the highest state standards, which would take a longer time and cost more money. The other, newer group is seeking a less-stringent cleanup in the hopes that the property would be open for public recreational use more quickly and at less expense.

And some of those in the older, more stringent group claim the others are simply doing Boeing's bidding in a false grass-roots effort dubbed "astroturfing." They say following that plan will ultimately leave some degree of contamination on the site, continuing to pose a health risk to the public.

"They (the new group) have this vision, because of Boeing propaganda, that the land up there will be moonscaped, and that every piece of dirt is going to be removed from that mountain, and that's not true," said Marie Mason, one of the original members of the Rocketdyne Clean-up Coalition.

"Most are honest, well-meaning people, but they don't really get how contaminated it is up there."

The Rocketdyne Clean-up Coalition, established in 1989, said the Boeing Co., which owns the lab, hired a consulting company to find people in the community who would support its desire to clean the site up to a less stringent standard and turn the land into open space.

But those in the newer group dispute claims of astroturfing, saying it diminishes their legitimate views about what to do with the field lab site.

John Luker, vice president of the Santa Susana Mountain Park Association, said he was once on the side of the old voices, but he eventually came to believe that the property only needs to be cleaned up to be used as open space.

"This is the most important wilderness corridor in Southern California," Luker said in an email. "The Boeing Co. is sincere in their desire to turn over their property to a government agency or non-profit as parkland and open space. The Santa Susana Mountain Park Association is dedicated to preserving 15,000 acres in the Simi Hills, including the Rocketdyne parcel. We have had that mission for over 40 years."

"We are working to help establish that partnership. What's wrong with that?" he added.

Rick Brausch, who advises the cleanup for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, said the fear that new voices will sway cleanup efforts suggests continued mistrust among residents because of years of secrecy.

"They are hypervigilant with a cause," Brausch said of the longtime activists. He added, however, that the state agency also is on alert for astroturfing.

"We need to be cautious and we need to be vigilant," he said. "We need to be careful that we don't get put in a direction that we can't get out of."

Field lab background

The Santa Susana Field Lab was developed in the late 1940s for rocket-engine tests and nuclear energy research by private-sector and government scientists from Rocketdyne, the Department of Energy and NASA, among others. The work made the San Fernando Valley the crucible of the space program, many say.

But it also left contamination in the soil and groundwater that has long been blamed for health problems in the local communities, including higher rates of cancer. Site owners and environmental regulators still don't know the full extent of the soil and groundwater contamination.

For two decades the Rocketdyne Clean-up Coalition and Committee to Bridge the Gap, led by Dan Hirsch, pushed Boeing and the federal government to thoroughly decontaminate the land to the highest possible degree.

In 2007, the coalition persuaded legislators to pass Senate Bill 990, which would require owners to clean up the land to the highest standards known as agricultural - leaving the property safe enough to grow food.

The alternative potential standards to follow include cleanup for residential, industrial or recreational use. Recreational is considered the least stringent.

Boeing officials maintained they were committed to cleaning up the site to levels safe up to suburban residential.

Officials haven't clearly defined what the difference in the cleanup standards means in terms of years of work or truckloads of dirt over Boeing's 2,400 acres of the lab, but a look at a smaller parcel at the SSFL site owned by NASA helps illustrate the difference.

Cleaning up NASA's 450-acre site to the highest standard would involve hauling 26,421 truckloads of soil, using 52 trucks a day for 23 months.

The least stringent standard would involve 3,052 truckloads of soil, using six trucks a day for 23 months.

Under the higher standard, Boeing contends it would have to remove enough contaminated dirt to fill the Rose Bowl three times, destroying sensitive ecological habitat and "natural, cultural and historic resources."

It also said the highest standard would result in 100,000 extra dump truck trips that would disturb nearby residents.

Boeing - which bought Rocketdyne's parent company in 1996 and still owns the field lab property despite selling Rocketdyne in 2005 - sued the state over the new law in 2009. A federal judge agreed that Boeing was unfairly singled out in having to clean up its portion to the high standards.

An appeal to the federal judge's decision is pending. Meanwhile, Boeing is still completing a study of the soil and groundwater to determine how contaminated the area is.

Court of public opinion

With the legal battle still in play, longtime SSFL activists say Boeing has taken the fight to the court of public opinion to garner support for a less stringent plan to clean up the site, to later release it as open space.

Boeing hired the Renewable Resources Group to help the company "see its land protected as open space parkland after it's been safely remediated," according to a statement from the consultant.

"We have met with a wide range of local activists, conservation organizations, and other Santa Susana stakeholders who have studied this issue for years and who make up their own minds about it," Tom Eisenhauer, spokesman for Renewable Resources Group, said in a statement.

"Santa Susana is home to vital biological and cultural resources, sits in a wildlife corridor that leading environmental organizations have identified as rare and important, and has been the focus of committed activists for years," Eisenhauer said. "So it shouldn't surprise anyone that a host of local and environmental stakeholders have spoken out for quite some time in support of natural resource protection at Santa Susana."

Some of the newer voices favoring a less-stringent cleanup fear that all the talk of contamination in the hills, and the massive dirt removal will reduce their property values in neighboring West Hills. Others say there should be a compromise between the old voices and new ones.

"For many, I am a new voice," said Mark Osokow, who has permission to access the site to study birds.

"I became involved, largely through the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society, as a result of my concerns about the relatively recent but rapid and continuing destruction of open space in the Santa Susana Mountains and Simi Hills."

Osokow envisions a museum on the property some day, and said some of the property, especially the southern buffer zone, could be opened to the public now.

But, he said, "Some of the `old' voices loudly advocating for a draconian `clean-up to background' could also obliterate these goals. Some do not appear to have a vision for the land that accommodates any beneficial use."

Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap and one of the most outspoken of the old voices, said he does not want the land to be turned into a moonscape. But if Boeing is allowed to sidestep cleaning up the land, their action could send a message to other toxic site owners.

"Boeing has dangled this prospect of `Let's make this into a park,"' Hirsch said. "We want Boeing to clean up the land. Dividing us is what Boeing wants."

Besides the Renewable Resources Group's efforts to reach out to new activists, a company called Make Over Earth developed a pamphlet for Boeing "to showcase third parties who share Boeing's open-space vision."

The pamphlet targeted media, including the Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Ventura County Star, and said, "Third parties add credibility and authenticity and blunt allegations of green-washing."

Boeing Spokeswoman Kamara Sams said the pamphlet is a draft and the third parties can be anyone from the community.

State officials said they'll listen to all the voices on SSFL, but Brausch with the DTSC said the state is committed to pursuing the strictest clean-up standards.

"Even if they had to sell that property for open space, they would still have to clean up to (rural) residential because we have a 2007 agreement," Brausch said. "They are obligated to that and I will hold them to that."

NOTE:An earlier version of this story said Mark Osokow worked for Boeing, when in fact, he has permission to access the site to study birds.